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Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish drive their Audi at Silverstone over the weekend during the FIA World Endurance Championship. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPIC

Audi wins FIA World Endurance Championship manufacturers' title

August 25, 2012

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Audi claimed the manufacturers' title in the inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship with victory in the Silverstone 6 Hours.

The British round of the WEC was won by André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler aboard the Audi R18 E-tron quattro hybrid. The victory combined with Audi's triumphs at Sebring, Spa and the double-points Le Mans 24 Hours round gives the German manufacturer the title at the halfway stage because only six scores count.

The winning Audi was pushed hard by the Toyota TS030 Hybrid, which was racing for only the second time. The solo Japanese car, driven by Alex Wurz, Kazuki Nakajima and Nicolas Lapierre, was often quicker than the Audis, but inferior fuel consumption and slower pit stops, compared with the German cars, always made a victory unlikely.

The loss of 12 seconds in the second safety-car period of the race in the fifth hour gave the winning Audi breathing space before the Toyota made its extra fuel stop and dropped it a minute behind.

The second Audi, the nonhybrid R18 ultra shared by Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen finished third. It lost time at its first pit stop and again under the second safety car.

The result means that McNish and Kristensen have lost the lead in the drivers' points rankings to their teammates.

Top LMP1 privateer was the Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyota B12/60 driven by Andrea Belicchi and Harold Primat. They enjoyed a trouble-free run to seal fourth by just 0.6 of a second from the Strakka Racing HPD ARX-03a shared by Danny Watts, Jonny Kane and Nick Leventis.

The LMP2 prototype class was won by the local ADR-Delta squad, whose premises are located at Silverstone, England. Its ORECA-Nissan 03 led most of the way in the hands of John Martin, Tor Graves and Jan Charouz, but came under pressure from the U.S. Starworks team's HPD ARX-03b in the closing stages. Former Peugeot factory driver Stéphane Sarrazin, who shared the car with Ryan Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio, closed to within six seconds of the ADR car at the checkered flag.

The GTE class was won by the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia driven by Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella.